According to most historians, the Pilgrims never observed an annual Thanksgiving feast in autumn. In the year 1621 they did celebrate a feast near Plymouth, Massachusetts, following their first harvest. This was a time to celebrate their first successful harvest after a time of fasting and prayer. It was modeled after the kind of feasts the pilgrims were used to in England. The food served included corn, barley, pumpkins, peas, fowl, deer, fish, and wild turkey. But this feast most people refer to as the first Thanksgiving was never repeated.
Oddly enough, most devoutly religious pilgrims observed a day of thanksgiving with prayer and fasting, not feasting. Yet even though this harvest feast was never called a day of thanksgiving by the pilgrims of 1621, it has become the model for traditional Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States.
(http://christianity.about.com, 10/23/07, www.theholidayspot.com, 10/23/07).
Thanksgiving Day Prayer and Hymn
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from
distressing,
Sing praises to His name: He forgets not His own.
(Traditional Thanksgiving Hymn 1st stanza)
(www.christianity.about.com, 10/23/07).
Hi, Lorna! Just checking out your new blog and it looks like you’re off to a great start!
I really love these two links in your post — just may have to share these with my blog readers and put you in my RSS feed!
I’ll be dropping by often and look forward to supporting you as your online community grows!
Tamara G. Suttle, M.Ed.,LPC
http://www.TamaraSuttle.com
http://www.AllThingsPrivatePractice.com